


There's A Mask On Your Soul

by Ivaleen



Series: Faith [4]
Category: Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series
Genre: Angst, Azran Legacy Spoilers, Dissociative Identity Disorder, HUGE SPOILERS, Short One Shot, des doesn't know who he is, set during azran legacy, the bostonius crew has just been betrayed by des and he's struggling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:41:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28894554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ivaleen/pseuds/Ivaleen
Summary: Jean Descole is gone with the key that will allow him to uncover the Azran legacy before Bronev does. But perhaps it wasn't a wise decision to make...Set between the two last chapters of Azran Legacy, after Sycamore becomes Jean Descole and flies away to Froenborg with Raymond.
Relationships: Hershel Layton & Desmond Sycamore, Jean Descole & Hershel Layton
Series: Faith [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2013166
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	There's A Mask On Your Soul

**Author's Note:**

> i was working on my master's thesis and then some sentences came up in my mind and i said, what a beautiful day to write yet another angsty one-shot about Des

“You wish I were dead, don’t you? Because if I were, I wouldn’t be a thorn in your side. I wouldn’t be standing here, and I wouldn’t be swearing to you that one day I’ll get my revenge on you, come what may—but you don’t have the guts to shoot _me_. Do you, eh, _do you?_ ”

* * *

These words were running inside Des’s head as he donned Jean Descole’s costume once more. Would it finally be the last time? He had tried for months to find an answer to that question, which Raymond would ask him whenever they’d found themselves alone in the Bostonius, during their trip all around the world. No matter how many days he spent trying to figure out whether or not it was _truly_ necessary for him to keep on being Descole, he was always met with…darkness. A void of some kind. His mind was drawing a complete blank, as if there was no answer to that question to begin with.

He’d sworn that he would take his revenge, yes; he’d sworn to his father - no, to Bronev, years ago, that he would always end up being one step ahead of him. Uncovering the legacy before his _minions_ would not give him back his family, that he was sure of. But he had to. He had to, because he couldn’t break such a promise. And he couldn’t deceive Annabell and Aurora, either. There were so much expectations he had to met. But none of them he could afford to betray. Was he even up to the task?

Was it necessary to _become_ Descole, in front of his own brother—in front of the one he’d just spent months with, showing him his _true face_? He’d sworn nothing to Hershel Layton. Unless… he knew that the man would end up _trusting_ him. Des found himself realizing that he didn’t know what it meant to be trusted anymore; what it meant to be deserving of anything, even any kind of human feeling for that matter. Descole deserved anger, disdain, hatred. These were the only feelings he’d ever seen arise in his opponent’s minds anyway. Luke’s eyes had just proven once more that he was right to believe he was nothing more than a wrecked person who could _not_ inspire any good emotion to others. He just wasn’t deserving of the trust they’d all placed in him. And Desmond Sycamore was no better. Now it was too late. His actions had only allowed _them_ _both_ , Desmond and Descole, to be remembered as the same person. But to him—to Hershel Bronev, actually—they were different. At least he thought they were.

In truth, even though it looked to everyone else that he was Descole, deep down, in his soul, he was still Desmond Sycamore. He’d always been ever-so-cheerful to don the antagonist’s robes, he had always a goal in mind whenever he did. But not this once; it had already started to fade away. He still wanted to outperform Bronev, but he had started to believe that what he’d been chasing was nothing more than a fantasy. Almost a year of bonding with one’s brother and his friends without them realizing it can change a man.

As soon as he got the key from the still shaken up Aurora—the _other_ Aurora, because life seemed to enjoy piercing his heart again and again—it seemed obvious that he needed to become Descole. Sycamore was associated with kindness, intelligence, success. He couldn’t very well leave the Obsidian Tower, pretending to be an evil man, while he looked like him. Becoming Descole would clear any doubts, it would simplify matters. That was what he’d believed from the start—he would spend months, maybe a year with all of them, and they would uncover every Azran secret together, Hershel and him, and all the others would tag along as well. And then it would all be over. They would get back to their daily lives, knowing that what they’d lived together would have been a lie.

But now that the moment of truth had been reached, Des wasn’t so sure anymore. He’d left them, laughing, holding tight the key they’d all worked so hard to obtain, a smile written on his face, but he felt differently. His crimson eyes could not have fooled them. Luckily for him, there was a mask covering these eyes; but it was not the only thing he’d tried to cover up with it.

He just couldn’t bear to imagine that some people (his _brother_ , perhaps?) would understand what he was feeling, and would help him healing from all the past wounds he’d suffered, and _still suffered_. And so, once more, he had to fight against the one he wanted so hard to reunite with—because the Azran legacy did not truly matter anymore.

He had to keep this charade going before everything would finally be over, and he would be left with no purpose. He’d already made sure everyone would hate him for reasons he alone couldn’t even explain.

But if only he could change things before it would be too late… At least, he needed to tell _him_ the truth. _He_ deserved nothing less.


End file.
